chaffin



(No Model.)

S. GHAPFIN.

WEATHER STRIP. No. 317,926. Patented May 12, 1885.

j UNITED STATES PATENT Orr cn.

SIMON OHAFFIN, OF SEDALIA, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES C. PARMERLEE, OF SAME PLACE.

WEATHER-STRIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,926, dated May 12, 1885.

I Application filed June 16, 1884. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMON GHAFFIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sedalia, in the county of Pettis and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Thresholds for Doors, of which the following is a specifiation.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of weather-strips for doors which are connected with the door itself and lowered to the floor when the door is closed and raised therefrom when the door is opened.

The objects of my invention are to provide a door with a novel weather-strip combined with a support for the door,which also serves to raise the weather-strip when the door is opened and permit it to drop against the floor when the door is closed; to provide a door with a novel weather-strip, which will exclude drafts, rain, or snow, and admit of constructing doors either outside or between rooms without the ordinary wooden thresholds or carpet-strips; to provide novel means whereby facility is afforded for laying continuous pieces of carpet or other floor-covering from one room to another without encountering the ordinary obstruction known as a carpetstrip, to provide a support for the door to prevent it from being racked or sagged when hung in the usual manner, and to provide a door with a Weatherstrip and novel means for holding it elevated when the door is opened and release it when the door is closed. These objects I accomplish in the manner and by the devices hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in which- Figure 1 is an inside elevation of the lower portion of a door with my invention applied thereto Fig. 2, a perspective view of the outer lower corner of the door, showing the plate supporting the latch for holding the weatherstrip in its elevated position; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the outer lower corner of the door-frame, showing the door-stop and doorsupport; Fig. 4, a vertical sectional view through the plate carrying the latch, showing the door closed and the weather-strip lowered, and Fig. 5 a similar view showing the door as being opened, and also showing by dotted lines a modification of the trip device for releasing the weather-strip.

Referring to the drawings, the number 1 indicates a door, 2 the door-frame, and 3 the door-stop, all of which may be of any known construction.

The Weatherstrip is composed of a plate, 4, of a length equal to-the width of the door, or approximately so, and is pivoted or hinged along one longitudinal edge to one edge of the lower end of the door, as at 5. This plate may be of any material, but is preferably of metal, carrying at its free longitudinal edge a strip, 6, of rubber or other elastic or flexible material usually employed for weather-strips, to make a tight joint when the plate swings downward against the floor. A metallic angle-plate, 7, is secured to the lower outer corner of the door, and carries a pivot-pin,'8, on which is arranged a latch, 9, having a hook, 10, at its lower end. The door is 'mortised to receive the latch, and the latter is hung in a vertical plane at one side of its center of gravity in such manner that the preponderance of weight tends to throw the upper end, 11, of the latch outward to rest over an aperture or orifice, 12, in the upper portion of the angle of the plate 7, thereby throwing the hooked end 10 inward to automatically engage a hooked catch, 13, secured to the upper side of the plate composing the weather-strip when the latter is raised from the floor, as in Fig. 5. The latch is preferably provided with two flat edges, so that the upper one of said edges rests against the angle of the plate 7 when the latch engages the catch, and the lower one of said edges rests against the said angle when the latch is disengaged from the catch, thus forming stops to the movements of the latch.

To the floor beneath the outer lower corner of the door is secured the door-support and weather-strip device 14, composed of abracket carrying a rotating roller which afifords a rolling bearing. In opening the door its entire thickness must pass over this roller, and the plate composing the threshold is thereby swung upward by the roller and its hooked catch automatically engaged and held by the hooked end of the pivoted latch, thus permitting the door to be freelyswung without dragging the strip. Vhen the dooris closed,a trip device or projection, 15. on the door-stop 3 enters the orifice 12 and throws the upper end of the latch inward, thereby disengaging its hooked end from the catch on the weatherstrip, which latter swings downward between the door-stop and the rollersupport, while at the same time the edge of the door will come in contact with the roller, which thereby sustains the door against sagging or racking. Instead of using a trip device on the door-stop I may provide the upper end of the latch with a projection extending through the orifice 12, as in dotted lines, Fig. 5, said projection coming against the door-stop, and thereby disengaging the latch from the catch.

Weatherstrips have heretofore been composed of a plate hinged to the door and provided with a staple, a spring-plate being secured to the door and provided with a hooked end to engage the staple when the hinged strip is raised by riding over the door-sill, a plate being secured to the door-frame for disengaging the hooked spring from the staple when the door is closed,to permit the hinged plate to fall. In another instance a-lever having a hooked end has beenpivoted to the door to engage a catch on the hinged weather-strip when the latter is raised, a stop acting on the upper end of the lever to disengage its hook from the catch when the door is closed, to permit the Such features, therefore,are dishinged to its lower edge, a latch pivoted in a recess in the door above said strip, a device upon the latter engaging with thelatch,means, substantially as described, for releasing the latch when the door is closed, and for raising the same when the door is opened,as set forth.

2. The combination, with a door, of a strip hinged to its lower edge and having a catch, a latch pivoted within said door above the catch, a roll mounted upon the door-sill or floor for raising said catch into engagement with the latch, and a projection tripping the latter when the door is opened, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a door having a plate hinged to its lower edge and provided with a catch, of a latch pivoted above said catch, a roll mounted upon the sill for raising the latter into engagement with the latch, and a projection or stud mounted upon the latter and engaging with the door-stop when the door is closed to trip the latch, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the door1, of the strip 4, having a catch, 13, a latch, 9, pivoted in a recess in the door above said catch, aroll, 14, mounted upon the floor or sill, and a projection, 15, upon the door-stop 3, to trip said latch when the door is closed, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIMON CHAFFIN. Wit-n esses:

O. A. CRANDALL, A. SWIFT. 

